Left Foot Green
by caseymac42
Summary: The crew of Station 51 plays a rather spirited game of Twister. Who declares homself the winner?


**Left Foot Green**

During the previous few weeks, the men of 51's A-shift had suddenly developed quite the competitive streak. Nothing was off-limits as they turned everything, except of course their responses, into a competition.

Card games, checkers, chess, and even rope and equipment drills were all turned into competitions, cooking too. It seemed that most everyone had their specialty. Johnny was head and shoulders the best at the rope drills. Marco was by far the best cook. Roy was good at the card games, Chet checkers, and Mike was the reigning chess champ, even Hank got into the act as the top shooter at the basketball net.

It all came to a head one Saturday afternoon in July.

Roy and Joanne were hosting a barbecue to celebrate their son Chris's twelfth birthday. While most of the kids' parents were talking amongst themselves, the men of 51's A-shift were casually observing the birthday boy and his friends playing a game of Twister.

Standing next to Chet, Johnny nodded his head in the direction of the boys.

"What are ya thinkin', Chet?"

A serious look on his face, Chet replied, "I'm thinking that this should be our next competition."

"For real?" Johnny asked incredulously.

"Yeah…for real. I figure I'd be a shoe in to win."

Johnny continued to look at his friend in disbelief. "How do you figure that?"

"Well…I AM the shortest one of the six of us…and therefore have a lower center of gravity. Cap has no chance…he's too tall. Mike…he's questionable. You and Roy…maybe."

"Pfftt…I'd beat your pants off in that game. You'd be the first one to go down."

"Would you like to put some money on that, Gage?" Chet replied, turning to face his buddy.

"Would I like to put money on that? You bet I would. I would even put up a month's shifts' worth of latrine duty on top of it."

Overhearing his two friends' exchange, Mike Stoker started to laugh and chimed in himself.

"I'd like a piece of this action, too. I'd take both of you. How much dough are we talking here, Chet?"

From out of nowhere came Hank's reply. "Fifty bucks. I can take ALL of you twits."

Roy, who was studying Chris and the other boys' movements on the Twister mat, rather intently, also responded to the exchange. "Fifty bucks…I'm game."

Not wanting to be left out of the friendly wager AKA competition, Marco puffed out his chest. "You guys have no idea how athletic I really am. You all think that I am JUST a good cook…WATCH me. I'm in too."

As all six of the men looked back and forth amongst themselves, Roy started to figure out how he would tactfully ask Chris and the other boys if they would mind taking a break from their game, in order to let him and the guys have their "competition."

Unaware of what was going on, Joanne came over to where Roy and the rest of the crew were gathered.

"Roy, we need more ice out here. I know there's another bag of it in the garage freezer."

"Yeah..." Roy replied to Joanne's request distractedly.

"Roy?" She called out, observing her husband and the other men. "Uh, you think you can get it for me…now? Some of the other parents need more ice."

Whispering to him as he walked away to get the requested bag of ice was Chet.

"You're toast, Roy…"

As he started to walk away, Roy looked over his shoulder. "We'll see about that, Chet."

Following her husband towards the house, Joanne couldn't help but wonder what was going on with her husband.

"Roy…is everything okay? I mean you and the guys…you all seem a little preoccupied about something."

"Everything is fine, Jo. In fact…in about a half hour or so…it'll all be over."

Before Joanne could ask her husband to elaborate on his last statement, Roy was in the house and heading to the garage for the requested bag of ice.

As he was entering the garage, the song The Hokey Pokey came to his mind. "Put your right foot in…" Roy smiled to himself as he thought about the amount of money that was at stake in this friendly wager…three hundred dollars total.

Reaching into the freezer for the bag of ice, Roy picked it up, and then closed the freezer door.

While Roy was inside getting the ice, Chris and his friends had finished their game of Twister.

Calling the young man over, Hank asked Chris about the game.

"Chris…"

Smiling when he heard Hank call his name, Chris came over to him.

"Hi Captain Stanley." Chris greeted with an easy smile.

"Chris…I…I was kind of wondering if you…you would mind if me and the guys used your game for a while?"

Chris looked at the older man in disbelief. "You guys want to play Twister?"

"Well…yeah, I guess we do. It's sort of a challenge."

The young man smiled mischievously.

"My dad, too?"

"Yep…your dad, too. But I gotta ask you a favor though…we need an impartial spinner. You know someone who could do the job?"

Continuing to grin, Chris nodded his head. "Yeah, I do. I'll do it…if you and the others agree to it. After all, it IS my birthday."

Hank smiled at the young man, and nodded his head. "I don't think the others would have a problem with that. And remember, just because your father will be in this game…no special allowances for him…right?"

"Of course, Captain Stanley. But don't worry, my dad's not gonna win the game, anyway." Chris commented matter of factly.

"He's not?" Hank asked in a surprised tone.

"No way." The younger man said shaking his head.

"May I ask who you think is GOING to win the game, Chris? Off the record, of course."

"Off the record? Well…I'd say that Chet has a good chance due to his lower center of gravity…however, no offense to you, Captain Stanley, my money is on either Mike Stoker or Johnny. Johnny's not quite as accident prone as people seem to think he is…after all…he IS a paramedic and firefighter. If he didn't have the physical skills…he wouldn't have made it into the Department, right?"

Hank couldn't help but to smile, though he wondered to himself why Chris didn't give him a chance to win, or even Marco…and why not his own father?

"Very true, Chris. Let me ask the guys if they feel you're an acceptable spinner, then we can get the show on the road…or at least once your dad comes back outside."

As Hank was approaching the other guys, Roy had returned from getting the bag of ice. He quickly filled up the ice cooler with the ice then made his way back down to where his friends were gathered.

"So what's the story?" Roy asked his captain, curious as to what was being discussed.

"Well…your son offered to be the official spinner of our little challenge game. None of us have a problem with that, Roy…do you?"

"No…no problem." replied Roy, as he looked around at the others, before returning his gaze back to his son.

As they were hashing out last minute rules and directions for their game, Joanne came over to them, curious as to what was going on.

"Gentlemen? Mind telling me what's going on here? I mean, should I be worried?"

Chet couldn't help but to snicker. "Worried? Well…only if you don't want your husband to lose fifty bucks, and have to do the latrines at the station for the next month."

"Roy? Are you really serious?" Joanne was in disbelief that her husband would actually be taking part in this escapade, let alone the fact that the rest of the guys were actually going through with this, as well.

"Dead serious, Jo. It'll be fine. Chris will be acting as the official spinner."

Nodding her head, she continued to be skeptical of what was about to take place in her back yard.

"Don't expect Chris to play favorites, Roy."

"I would never put my son in that awkward of a position…would I, Chris?" Roy said with a wink.

Chris shook his head, and did his best not to laugh. "Never, Dad…never."

Hank straightened up to his full height.

"Now, all we need is a referee. He or she will monitor the game, as well as hold the cash. Any ideas?"

From a few feet away, came a deep voice.

"I'll be glad to do it."

Looking up, Hank and the others saw a rather tall, sturdily built man walking over to them.

"Ben Cooper." said the man, holding out his hand to Hank. "My son is Shane…a friend of Chris's….I'm ALSO a cop with the LAPD."

Hank looked around at the others.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to report you for gambling…though it's not setting a good example for the kids." Ben commented with a grin and a laugh.

"Hank Stanley…I'm a captain with the County Fire Department."

"And these guys are your crew? The crew that works together…plays together?"

Hank couldn't help but to smile. "Something like that."

"Okay…everyone pay up." Chet blurted out, convinced that the money would soon be his.

Everyone went through their wallet to pull out the required fifty dollars. It was an unusual feat, given that all six of them actually had that kind of cash on them…but they did.

Handing the money to Ben, he safely tucked the wad of cash in his left front jeans pocket.

Giggling a bit, Chris gave the men a suggestion.

"I think it would be a good idea for you guys to limber up a bit. This game is not as easy as you think it is…and none of you are exactly teenagers."

Joanne was a little surprised that Chris would make a crack like that to not only his father and Hank, but to Mike, Marco, Chet, and Johnny as well…but she did happen to agree with him.

"Chris has a point there. Stretching would be a good idea."

"And one more thing…your shoes have to come off. This game is played either in socks or bare feet."

While her husband and the rest of the crew were stretching and removing their footwear, Joanne pulled over a chair to sit down. She was soon joined by Jennifer, who had stopped playing with a few of the other girls, to come over to see what was going on.

"Mom? What's going on here? Did daddy finally lose his marbles?" asked Jennifer, quite innocently, and in a matter of fact kind of tone.

Joanne couldn't help but to laugh. Her two children certainly had their father pegged correctly.

"Jenny, your father and the others are going to play a game of Twister."

It was Jennifer's turn to be shocked.

"For real? Daddy and Uncle Johnny…and the other guys are ALL going to play? Is this part of Daddy approaching middle-age?"

"Jennifer…"

After a few minutes of stretching, the men of Station 51 took their places along the Twister mat.

Johnny, Hank, and Marco were on one end of the mat, while Roy, Chet, and Mike were on the opposite side.

Seeing the men gathered on the Twister mat, the other parents who were at the party, along with the kids, quickly made their way over to where the game was about to begin.

Watching as Johnny took a look and noticed the growing crowd around them, Chet smiled and thought to himself, "Gage is toast….he never could perform in front of a crowd. One down…four to go."

Ben clapped his hands together.

"You guys all ready?"

Seeing everyone nodding, he signaled for Chris to spin for the first move.

"Okay everyone…here we go." After spinning, he read where the arrow was pointing. "Right foot blue."

All six men took a step and put their right foot on one of the blue dots…so far so good.

Next spin…"Left hand green."

Chris continued to spin. "Right foot yellow…left hand red…left foot blue…"

The men were in some rather precarious positions. With Chet bending over, his butt was practically in Johnny's face.

"Chet, so help me if you let one out right now."

"Shut up Gage. If I have to pass gas…I will."

Annoyed at the distraction, Hank spoke up.

"Will you two twits PLEASE shut up. If this is your way of trying to break everyone else's concentration…STOP."

From his bent over position Chet glared at Johnny.

Feeling a rumble in his stomach, Roy had to quickly get his mind on something else. Suddenly the chili concoction that Marco had made especially for the barbecue was not sitting quite so nicely in his stomach.

Hearing the other man's loudly gurgling stomach, all eyes were now on the senior paramedic.

"Roy?" called out Hank. "You alright over there?"

"Dandy." Came his reply through clenched teeth.

After another loud gurgle, it became obvious that Roy would not be able to continue.

Without saying anything else, Roy stood up, and ran toward the house.

Feeling bad for his friend, but knowing full well that this was still a "competition", Chet blurted out. "One down…four to go."

Chris looked over at his mother. He was unsure of what to do.

Joanne nodded to her son. "You guys continue…a challenge is a challenge. I'll go check on him. I'm sure it's nothing too serious."

Getting up from her chair, Joanne made her way inside the house. Going upstairs to their master bath, she called out her husband's name through the closed bathroom door.

"Roy…honey, are you okay?"

Hearing some soft groaning coming from inside the bathroom, she did feel bad for her husband, but knew that he'd be okay. No one else had come up sick from any of the food, so she figured it was just something that he had eaten that didn't quite agree with him.

Finally hearing the toilet flush, she opened the door slowly, and peeked inside.

"Roy? Are you okay?"

Turning on the water at the sink, Roy proceeded to wash his hands.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I think it was Marco's chili dish. Tasted great going down…"

Meanwhile back outside the Twister game continued.

"Left hand blue."

Hearing a buzzing around his left ear, Hank turned his head to see a bee right by his head. Trying to get it to leave him alone, he moved his head trying to shoo it away and get it to leave him alone. That motion threw him off balance and he fell.

Not saying it this time, but thinking it, Chet smirked.

"Two down…three to go."

Hank picked himself up off the ground, and graciously stepped off the mat to allow the game to continue.

"Right foot red." Chris continued.

With the game having gone on for about 15 minutes, Johnny's left hip had started to bother him…it was the same one that he had hurt a few years earlier when he had been hit by a car.

Seeing Johnny's grimace, Chet couldn't resist making a crack at him.

"Too old for this game, Gage?"

Just then a drop of perspiration dripped into Chet's right eye, and unable to use his hand to wipe his eye, he made the same motion with his head to try to stop the stinging sensation in his eye, as Hank had made to try to shoo away the bee…he too lost his balance and fell.

Unable to resist saying it, Johnny looked down at his fallen friend.

"Another one bites the dust."

Returning outside, Roy and Joanne were in time to see Chet picking himself off the ground. They were even more surprised to see Hank standing next to Ben.

Noting the return of his senior paramedic, Hank walked over to him.

"You okay, Roy?" The captain concernedly asked.

"I'm fine, Cap." Roy sighed. "I think it was something that I ate that didn't quite agree with my stomach. What got you?"

"A bee."

"A bee? You didn't get stung did you?"

"No." Hank replied, shaking his head. "But when I moved my head to try to get it to go away, I lost my balance. As for Chet…not sure what got him, but he's down…and out."

The game went on. Mike Stoker, Marco Lopez, and John Gage continued to do battle.

"So who do you think is going to win, Cap?" Roy asked.

"Either Mike or Marco, I think. Your partner looks like he's going to be heading out of the game real soon."

Observing Johnny for himself, Roy who could read his partner like a book, did note a bit of discomfort on Johnny's face.

"Left foot red."

From the position that Johnny was currently in, it meant that he had to stretch to achieve the next position. With the ache that he was starting to really feel in his left hip, Johnny decided that he had to bow out. He was fine with it…at least he had lasted longer than Chet had.

"I'm done."

Sitting down on a chair, Johnny started to rub his hip, prompting Roy to come over to him.

"You alright, Johnny? You didn't hurt yourself, did you?"

Looking up, Johnny smiled wearily at his partner, and wiped the sweat from his brow.

"Nope, I'm fine…but I would have hurt myself if I had continued. How about you…you doing okay?"

"Yeah…something I ate didn't agree with me. I'll live."

"So who do you think is gonna win, Roy? Mike and Marco both look evenly matched."

"Don't know, Johnny…it's a toss-up."

The game continued on.

As the two men who were still participants, exchanged smiles at each other, they acknowledged that they were both very good adversaries.

Right foot…left foot…right hand…left hand…this color and that color. Both Marco and Mike had ended up in some rather interesting positions, leaving Johnny to wonder just what the two men did in their free time that enabled them to contort themselves like that.

It finally came to a head.

"Left foot green." called out Chris.

With the Charlie horse in his left calf muscle intensifying, Marco's left foot slipped, and he fell.

Mike stood up stretching, while his friends gathered around him and congratulated him.

"Great job, Michael."

"Thanks, Cap."

The engineer graciously accepted the congratulations from the others. Concerned about his friends, he made sure that each of them were in fact okay, especially Roy. Once he was assured that they were all okay, he finally let down his guard to proclaim, "I am the champion."

Ben Cooper reached into his pocket and handed Mike the wad of money.

"Great job, Mike." The guest referee offered the winner.

"Thank you, Ben…and thanks for agreeing to ref this little game of ours."

"No problem. I think it's time for another beer." He said with a smile.

As the police officer/referee walked away to get himself a cold one, Mike laughed to himself.

Johnny continued to observe the engineer, still thinking about all of the odd positions that he was able to achieve during the game. Finally he had enough nerve to ask his friend how he was able to do it.

"Mike…I gotta ask you a question."

"Sure, Johnny…shoot."

"Well…I just have to ask. How were you able to bend and twist like that? I mean that was really quite impressive."

Mike's expression turned very serious.

"Well…I guess I'll have to let the cat outta the bag…I was in the circus when I was younger…an acrobat."

Johnny looked incredulously at the other man. "Really?"

"I'll never tell, Johnny. Just remember this very poignant piece of advice…left foot green." The engineer patted Johnny on his left shoulder.

Walking away to get himself a cold beer, Mike left the paramedic in awe, and standing with his jaw dropped open.

The End


End file.
